Volunteer Veterinary Students

The University of Prince Edward Island (UPEI) has been awarded $300,000 from the federal Canadian Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Scholarships program for a project that aims to improve the nutrition, food security, and livelihoods of smallholder dairy farmers in central Kenya. UPEI is partnering with PEI-based Farmers helping Farmers (FHF) and Kenyatta University, the University of Nairobi and Naari Dairy Cooperative Society in Kenya.

The four-year program was developed primarily by Dr. John VanLeeuwen of UPEI’s Atlantic Veterinary College (AVC), and Teresa and Ken Mellish of FHF, with input from Dr. Jennifer Taylor, Colleen Walton and Charlene VanLeeuwen, UPEI Department of Applied Human Sciences.

The University of Prince Edward Island (UPEI) has run this successful rotation for over 10 years, with aims to improve the nutrition, food security, and livelihoods of smallholder dairy farmers in central Kenya. UPEI is partnering with PEI-based Farmers helping Farmers (FHF), the University of Nairobi, and a number of partner dairy groups in Kenya. The rotation has been developed primarily by Dr. John VanLeeuwen of UPEI’s Atlantic Veterinary College (AVC), and Teresa and Ken Mellish of FHF. Each year, three AVC students and three to six Kenyan senior veterinary students get practical experience in international smallholder dairy health management while delivering services and training to smallholder farmers in Kenya. Training methods include face-to-face seminars, demonstrations, and train-the-trainer. Emphasis will be on practical training for both the Kenyan and Canadian students. Working directly with the farmers will help UPEI students understand small-scale dairying and cropping challenges.

Farmers Helping Farmers is a nationally recognized, award-winning, registered charitable organization of community-minded people from PEI, Canada. FHF’s objectives are to assist Kenyan smallholder farmers in rural communities to build food security and sustainable livelihoods through collaborative small-scale, practical, agriculturally based economic development projects through training of best management practices. FHF also partners with Kenyan farm organizations (eg. self-help women’s groups and dairy cooperatives and societies) who can then service their farmer members better. FHF has been working with farmers in Kenya for over 35 years, but in 2004, it officially broadened its mission and began partnering with UPEI. Between 2004 – 2015, over 100 UPEI veterinary, teaching, nutrition, nursing, biology, and business students, along with 14 faculty, have experienced international development first-hand, supported by FHF and their Kenyan partners. These students have been supported, either cash or in-kind, by various funding sources including Farmers Helping Farmers, CIDA, UPEI, AUCC, Veterinarians without Borders-Canada, and students’ personal sources. An MOU and research MOA were signed with UPEI in 2011.